Fun Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord (Novel) - Chapter 128 - The Public Bath and the Elevator

Chapter 128 – The Public Bath and the Elevator

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Does your town also have a super sento, I wonder. Ahh, the super sento. How wonderful it would be if it were there, the super sento. Yes, that place is an alluring bath-utopia.

That was the catchphrase of the super sento that took care of me when I was a child.

Even hearing it now, it is a pretty edgy and good catchphrase. This would surely catch men and women of all ages alike.

In truth, I was greatly indebted to it. I want to make a bathhouse that remains in memory like that.

Thinking that, first I considered what was most important for adventurers.

First, it would be washing off dirt after coming back from an adventure. I will make five somewhat spacious single-person shower corners, and the same number of pot baths. After that, let us go with an open-air bath, a reclining bath, and a waterfall bath.

Since there is a large Kusara Hotel and shops around it, the open-air bath will inevitably end up on the rooftop of a three-story building. If I divide the first and second floors by men and women, then one side will have difficulty using the open-air bath.

So on the first floor, in proper super-sento style, I will make a reception area and a relaxation space.

After passing through the somewhat broad entrance, there is a shop selling bath goods and cold drinks and the like. Half the floor is a shoe-free rest zone where people can lie down. The other half is a rest zone with a baggage area and table sets.

Since it can be placed where it can be seen from the shop at the entrance and from the reception in the back, baggage should not be a problem either. If theft incidents occur, let us consider key-locker storage as well.

If I make stairs on the left and right of the reception that split into men and women and go up to the second floor, would that make it easier to use? If I divide the second and third floors in half, then install the same number of shower corners and pot baths in each. The third floor will have the waterfall bath and reclining bath, and the rooftop will be the open-air bath.

Ohh, this way it seems I can make it rather spacious. Let us keep the hot water flowing constantly. In this world that is a luxury specification fit for royalty, but the adventurers are the top earners of this town. A certain degree of expense is no problem at all.

Thinking that, I made it all in one go. So that it would be all right even if adventurers used it roughly, the material is also made from rather thick Wood Blocks.

Just like in Seat Village, let us operate the public bath as our household’s own business. I will appoint one manager and leave the hiring of employees to that person.

Also, it might be good to have the other shops and the Bell-Rango Company branch and the like each appoint a representative too, and form something like a shopping-district union.

If we do that, Espada, whom I have appointed governor of the adventurers’ town, should be able to do his work more easily.

While considering the management of the adventurers’ town like that, I checked the street. Nearly all of the roadside shops were already completed. All that remained was the building for the Bell-Rango Company.

“All right, then I will build the Bell-Rango Company store! Do you have any requests?”

When I asked that, Bell took out a sheet of paper with a blueprint drawn on it, though I have no idea when she prepared it.

“Watching your bath facility, Lord Van, made me think that carrying baggage from the basement to the third floor is, after all, difficult, and it also feels inefficient in terms of time. So, if there were a pulley that could carry goods from underground to aboveground…”

“A pulley? Ah, so you mean making an elevator.”

“Elevator…?”

I explained it simply to Bell, who tilted her head.

“They are actually used in wells and in the gates of the royal capital, but this would be for moving people and goods up and down, I suppose. The more pulleys there are, the lighter the weight becomes, so maybe I should try using four or six?”

“I see. I too had been imagining drawing water from a well. But if the number increases, then it has such an advantage.”

Merchant Bell unexpectedly said that. Well, even on Earth, elevators and cranes using pulleys probably did not spread all across the world immediately after being made, and maybe in this country research on applications of pulleys simply has not progressed much yet.

Or perhaps someone is monopolizing the knowledge the way a patent would.

“…Well, whatever.”

I tried thinking about various things, but there is no use pursuing that in particular. I have heard that cranes for building ships and towing things existed from long ago, so if it is a maritime nation, there may also be independently developed pulley equipment. Let me ask someone from the Commercial Guild next time.

“Lord Van. This pulley that carries people and things…”

From on top of the wagon, Arte asked about the elevator.

“The floor moves and carries them, but… ah, then, do you want to watch it being made together?”

“May I? I would very much like to see it.”

With that sort of exchange, Arte ended up coming along. For some reason I feel like I want to show a good side of myself, but since it is my first time making an elevator, the hurdle is high. That is a bit troubling.

“…All right. Then, for the time being, shall we build the building first? We can change the floor plan of each level later, so will you only decide the location of the elevator?”

“Ah, understood. Then I would like you to make two entrances, and install it so that it leads to the storage rooms on each level.”

“So that means an entrance for loading and unloading. In that case, shall we make it on the side farther from the front entrance of the adventurers’ town? I will make the stairs in the center.”

“Please.”

Once we discussed the structure of the building simply, I immediately began the construction. The Bell-Rango Company people brought the materials in mountain-like quantities, so I could build more and more.

I made one atrium running from the first basement floor to the third floor aboveground, and apart from that there were not even any partitions. I made the stairs wide enough for around four people to climb side by side.

Climbing those stairs busily, I went all the way up to the third floor. Arte came along too, but she was giving off a great deal of fatigue, and Till stayed by her side the whole time.

“Whew… this is tiring.”

Laughing, I looked around the broad floor. Since I was using the stairs like pillars, the floor was spacious like a steel-reinforced concrete building.

On the other hand, Arte and Till were looking at the hole that continued down to the first basement floor with pale faces.

“I-It is frightening…”

“Lady Arte. It is dangerous to lean over.”

Arte was crouching down and looking into the hole, while Till flustered a little way behind her. Kamushin was on all fours peering down into the hole.

“Be careful not to fall.”

Saying that with a laugh, I installed pulleys on the ceiling. I arranged large pulleys side by side at staggered heights. I think four was what was often taught in school classes, so first I will try making it with four pulleys arranged in a row.

Then I made the box to suspend. Since sturdiness is very important for the suspension rope, let us make it metal wire. It is a durable rope made by twisting together thinned metal. Luxuriously, I made it into mithril rope.

“…As I thought, mithril takes away magic all at once.”

Feeling drained, I sat down on the floor just as I was. It seems the consumption of magic increases in the order of wood, earth, iron, copper, silver, gold, mithril, and orichalcum. Wood does not tire me at all, but with mithril and orichalcum, if I keep processing them for about one hour continuously, my magic is exhausted.

But I do not have time to relax leisurely. To improve the elevator’s stability, I installed rails on the left and right of the box, and swiftly made guardrails to prevent falls and the like as well.

“I wound the wire ropes around the pulleys alternately and fixed them firmly to the box that will carry people and goods. Really, I would like to make it move automatically when you push a button, but for now I could not think that far.”

After saying that with a bitter smile, I removed the Wood Blocks that had been supporting the box.

Since I was holding the end of the wire rope that supports the box, there was no danger of it falling, and since nothing was loaded onto it, I hardly felt any weight.

“Is it complete with this?”

While I was holding the end of the wire and checking how it worked, Till asked that with shining eyes.

“Yes, I think so. Then perhaps I should have Dee hold this side. Hold it firmly.”

When I said that, Dee gripped the tip of the wire rope without really understanding. After confirming the way he was gripping it firmly with both hands, I got into the newly completed elevator.

“Wha!? Lord Van!”

“Hyaaa!?”

Kamushin and Till hurried over in a panic. Dee dropped his hips while still clinging to the wire in a fluster. It was fine that Arte was clinging to the handrail and trying to stretch a hand this way, but Kamushin and Till had rushed in too far and ended up getting into the elevator.

“H-Hey, all of you cannot get on. Get off, get off.”

“Lord Van is the one who cannot get on!”

“Please get off!”

The three of us together made a fuss inside the elevator. Seeing that, Arte and Bell let out shrieks.

“F-For the moment, please all get off.”

At Arte’s words, the three of us finally got off the elevator.

For the time being, since the pulleys had functioned without issue, I prepared a box to put a counterweight into at the end of the rope Dee had been holding, and by adjusting the weight I completed the elevator for use, but afterwards Till got very angry at me.